She's Annie, as in 'Little Orphan'.
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| Except she has eyeballs. |
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| Unlike the comic strip character she's based on. |
This Annie doll was made by Knickerbocker.
She was produced in 1982, to coincide with the release of the original "Annie" movie, starring Aileen Quinn.
She originally had a heart shaped locket,white anklets and Mary Jane shoes too. A party dress and yellow shoes were also made for her. Some of the dolls came with a child sized 'Annie' locket.
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| As you can see from her neck, yellowing is often a problem with these dolls. |
Annie stands 6" tall. (I was going to save her for Shrunken Saturday, but she didn't look right in the doll house. Unlike the Posin' Pee Wees doll and Ton Chan that you saw recently, she just looked like a giant kid in there.) A whole series of dolls based on the movie characters was made, including Daddy Warbucks, Punjab, Miss Hannigan, and the Littlest Orphan.
You can watch the original TV commercial for the doll HERE.
'Little Orphan Annie' was the creation of Harold Gray. The title was borrowed from James Whitcomb Riley's 1885 poem, but the character of Annie was based on a real little girl named Annie,(But not an orphan.),that Gray met on the streets of Chicago. The comic strip,known for it's political commentary, began in 1924. The strip ran for 86 years. When Gray died in 1968, replacement artists drew the strip, and classic strips were reprinted. The popularity dwindled over the years,and it was only running in only 20 newspapers by the time it was cancelled in 2010. Annie's fate was left in question when the strip ended with her in the clutches of a kidnapper. In 2013 characters from "Little Orphan Annie" began appearing in the Dick Tracy comic strip,and Annie was eventually rescued from her captor.
During it's run the comic strip was made into a popular radio show, in 1930, and movie adaptations in 1932 and 1938. The play "Annie" premiered on Broadway in 1977,and won seven Tony's, including Best Musical, Best Score, and Best Book. The original Annie in the play was Andrea McArdle. Later 'Annies' included Sarah Jessica Parker, and Allison Smith.The 1982 movie was remade as a TV movie in 1999,(I remember watching it with Emma,on my bed, as I bathed Ivy, just home from being born.)and again in 2014.
The furniture Annie is posing with was made from tin cans.
I know furniture like this can be made from aluminum cans. My sister made a chair from an aluminum pop can when I was a kid, which I still have. She painted it black and made a red velvet cushion for it. I can see making this stuff from aluminum. It's soft, and can be cut with scissors. but this stuff is made from tin or steel cans.
It's heavy and hard. The aluminum chairs can be crushed by sitting a doll that's a bit too heavy in them. This set is sturdy though.It's says '1990' on the bottom of the chair,but the fabric used on them seems older.
That's it for today. See you tomorrow for another doll.
Okay, the can furniture is awesome. I loved Annie, I got to see the play at the Starlight Theater in KC, Missouri. I had a record and to this day I can hear the characters voices in my head in bits and pieces. I loved story records.
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